Part II of the BWCA Trip: Hello Canada, and a Polar Bear Plunge

Quick! Post about the second half of my BWCA trip before I forget everything!

I woke up on the morning of Saturday, February 11th after a good night's sleep. I had NOT slept well the day before (sleeping bag, sharing a space with 6 strange women, freezing cold) but after a hard first days worth of dogsledding and snowshoeing, I was zonked and slept soundly.

It was a bit surreal: the cold, the wind, so much white

We got going around 10am. We didn't bring our snowshoes this time - some of our group had gone to Rose Falls the day before, and they suggested that we leave the snowshoes behind. The path was too narrow, windy, and steep for snowshoes to be of any use, and they thought that it was a huge pain to carry them around when they needed their hands for scrambling up the hills. So we started off hiking in just our boots (Yak Trax for those smart enough to bring them) across Bearskin Lake again. It was cold, windy, and very bright out. Even when the sun is hidden behind clouds, it still feels bright out. So much white snow and clouds.

There were eleven of us, so we had to split into two groups. Only groups of 9 people or fewer are allowed into the BWCA at a time. (The place we were staying was less than a mile outside of the BWCA - obviously, no big camp would be allowed in the BWCA.) I was pleased and encouraged by the fact that I was put on the "fast" team. After yesterday's trip to Caribou Rock, I felt quite encouraged, but still nervous about what what was ahead: a 5-6 hour hike, two portages, miles of lake walking (cold wind, blowing snow) and some bushwhacking.

Coming down the steep path on the Border Route Trail

We set out across Bearskin Lake again. After what seemed like an interminable amount of time spent stumbling in my boots and falling in up to my knees every third step, I missed my snowshoes. Once we got to the first portage, I understood what the other group said: snowshoes would have been worthless. We only stayed on the real portage for a short time, then we branched off to a small hiking trail, and then the Border Route Trail. It was SO MUCH FUN. Lots of uphill, lots of scrambling. I was usually first right behind the guide. I was having a blast! And the views were incredible.

Once we got over the top of the ridge, we half hiked downhill and half the time we slid on our butts down well-worn chutes in the snow. When I first arrived at the camp, I was kind of embarrassed by my giant snowmobile snowpants. Some of the other women had slim, snowboarding snowpants and I felt like I was wearing giant raver stovepipe pants. I LOVED them for sliding on my butt down the hill, and they were perfect for the deep snow.

Rose Falls as few ever see it: Frozen

After the portage/ridge, we were back to hiking on another lake (Lake Duncan). Once again, I missed my snowshoes. Breaking a path in vicious wind was kind of tough. But I felt strong and was really excited to get to Rose Falls. And they were so worth it! We portaged again for a short time, and came upon a beautiful half-frozen waterfall in the woods. There was a wonderful view over Rose Lake and a sheer cliff on the other side - O Canada!

After eating lunch (biscuits, frozen bananas, half-frozen banana bread, and half-frozen energy bars), we headed back via the lake. As much as I wanted to go back to the slip-and-slide hike between Duncan and Bearskin lakes, I didn't realize that the slides only went one way and it would be a huge pain to climb back up them. :) Six hours after we started out, we got back to the lodge. I immediately removed my piles of layers and lay in my bunk in my bra and undies. Man, it felt GOOD!!

I felt great. I felt strong and vibrant, healthy and incredibly proud of the way I scrambled up hills, encouraged my friends, and kept going even when it felt like the lake hikes were taking place on some sort of hellish treadmill. I am so proud of my strength and stamina when I was hiking, being the first one up the hills, sliding down on my butt and yelling "wheeeee!", pushing myself and succeeding - all while having a great time.

This would have been a fine ending to the trip. However, there was one more thing that I wanted to do before leaving the frozen north: a polar bear plunge.

Mandy and Mark were also game for a little jump in the lake. Yes, it was well below zero degrees Fahrenheit outside! We got on our swimsuits, piled our layers on top of them (I felt silly putting snowpants on over a swimsuit), and we headed to the lakeside sauna. We stripped off all but the suits and our wool socks (polar bear dippers should keep their wool socks on so that their wet feet don't stick to the ice...ugh) and relaxed in a nice hot dry sauna.

Then, one by one, we walked to a hole in the lake and jumped in! Under the millions of stars and by a roaring campfire on the ice.

This is me getting the fuck out of the water.
I dunked in up to my neck...didn't want my hair to freeze

I'm so glad that I went, and that I did all that I did. I have no regrets. Here's to the next spin around the sun.

 

Part of the 1%...of visitors to the BWCA that go in the winter

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) is part of the Superior National Forest, a delightfully wooded area of Northern Minnesota.  It's over one million acres (the BWCA, not the forest - that's much bigger) of lakes and forests in which no motors are allowed: no motorboats, no snowmobiles, nothing.  Over 250,000 people visit every year - mostly Minnesotans - but only 1% of those visitors go in the winter.  This year, I became one of the 1%.

I went with a group from Wilderness Inquiry, which is a non-profit organization that arranges wilderness trips for people of all abilities.  This is the second trip I've been on with them - the first was a 5-day kayak trip in the Apostle Islands in 2008.  I really like their philosophy of inclusion.

My friends Mandy and Mark were driving themselves from their home in Southern Minnesota, and since I live just a few blocks off of Highway 61 they picked me up.  It was about 2.5 hours from my place to Menogyn Lodge, where we were to spend the next three and a half days.  It began to snow on the last dirt road into the wilderness.  All of the participants got there around the same time (those who drove themselves and those who took the big van from the Twin Cities).  We said hello, got out our snowshoes/skis, put our packs on our backs (or put them into sleds to pull) and set off 1.5 miles in the snow across the lake to the camp.  Some folks stayed in the lodge (those who could not easily stay in the cabin and deal with the outhouses), the rest of us were divided up by gender and got settled into our bunks.  Poor Mandy and Mark (who are married) had to spend the weekend with a wall between them.

We relaxed around the lodge for the night, and the next morning we were up bright and early to work with the sled dogs!

Goofing around with the dogsled, dogs hardly amused

The dogs live outside (they apparently like it, although I imagined that Thunderdog would be terribly put out if I did not let her sleep on the bed with me, or even the couch!), and they were a lot smaller than I thought they would be.  They looked to be about 35-40 pounds of Dog, and only a few of them looked like "traditional" sled dogs.  As you can see in the picture on the left, the dogs went from white and curly haired all the way to black and wiry, and everything in between.

We learned how to hitch them up, and got them onto their sleds.  They really wanted to RUN!  The first time out the dogsled guides did the driving and the participants sat in the sled.  I was glad to go for a ride the first time out: the woods are amazing.  The surrounding forest was one of the few in the US that had never been logged, so there were huge stands of virgin pines.  Awesome to look at - especially zipping along in a sled.

It was a lifelong dream to do this!  I am so thrilled that I got the opportunity to ride - but even better, we stopped halfway through the trip we switched spots and I got to drive.  I had to stand on the narrow footing in the back, and use the two brakes: one was a big flat brake that I used to slow the dogs down, and there was also a big "emergency brake" that I used to keep them in place once we stopped. There was also an "anchor" that was essentially used as a parking break.  The dogs didn't enjoy just standing around, especially when other dogs are running.  I was scared but I did it!

That afternoon we decided to go for a snowshoe hike.  We went up the Caribou Rock Trail, a well-known summer hiking trail.  It's hard to gauge how far we went: we snowshoed across a lake, and then we went off-trail to get to the summit.  It took about 2.5 hours round trip, but it was SO very worth it:

Snowshoeing across Bearskin Lake

Here we are hiking across the lake.  Some of the group decided against snowshoes...they regretted it when we got to the portage!  The walk across the lake was cold and windy (I was glad that I had a gaiter to keep my face somewhat covered).  TheI used my snowshoes with my Sorels for the first time (I used my regular old hiking boots the one other time I used the snowshoes).n we had to climb up a steep hill (off the main portage), over a ridge, and then were were there: a wonderful view as reward for our hard work.

It was a real person personal challenge for me.  Although there's no way of knowing for sure, I feel confident that, two months ago, I could not have made the trip.  Eating right to lose extra poundage and exercising to improve my strength and cardio must have been a great help.  I felt proud and strong!

Later that evening some of us walked out onto the lake to do some stargazing.  It was clear out, so we had a great view of the heavens.  What amazes me the most about the stars and planets is that, in real darkness, you can not only see MORE of them, but you can see that they have different colors.  For example, Orion: Betelgeuse (the upper left star, his "shoulder") is red and Rigel (the lower right star, his "foot") is blue-white.  We also saw Mars on the horizon: it actually looked like a red disc.  It was amazing.

After a while it was just two of us on the ice - laying about 10 feet apart, looking at the sky.  I heard a strange sound: it sounded like an irregular thumping bass...thump...thumpthump...thump....thump.  I asked my fellow stargazer, "Did you hear that?" in a whisper.  "Yeah," she whispered back.  Then CRACK!!!!  There was a loud cracking sound.  Let me tell you, we were up and running in less than a second.  I grabbed my lantern and we got back to shore without even saying anything!  But once we were back, we were laughing, almost crying, and talking about how the crack was probably just ice shifting beneath the surface and that we were so silly.  I tell you, though - any logical person would take notice if they heard a cracking sound while they were on a frozen lake.

I'll write up my review of Saturday later.  Too much for one post.